The last few weeks have been busy and slow all at once. I spent almost a full week out of my site because of a memorial service and meeting presentation in Azogues, a weekend getaway to the beach J, and then another trip back to the pharmacy in Azogues to get medicine for my pink eye.
The trip to the coast was actually more travel than time there, and the weather was awful. I spent the majority of my time inside with MacKenzie and Meaghan and only touched the sand once, but it was still nice to get away for two days. I took the early (5:30 am) bus back into Azogues on Monday morning in order to give classes in the school.
I really enjoy working in the school and spending time with the kids, but it is also disheartening to be at the school and see the lack of structure and discipline the kids have. Most of them run around, coming and going from class as they please, hitting others, talking back, and outright refusing to complete work. I have very little influence since I am only with each class for 40 minutes each week, so I try and focus on being upbeat and positive with them, encouraging them all to participate as much as possible. From what I have seen, there is also limited discipline at home. People are afraid of making kids mad or upset because the worst thing would be for them to cry. To avoid having them cry, they are given most anything they want. While I know I got many things as a kid, I also had some discipline, rules and structure, which I appreciate more and more each day (even if I didn’t like it at the time) J.
Another tough aspect of working in the school is seeing the special needs children and how they don’t receive any special attention. This is an area I think I can work in, so eventually I hope to talk to the director of the school about it. The special needs children are often called the “dumb ones,” and I’m told not to bother with them because they won’t understand anyways. They are sort of left off to the side to do their own thing (or nothing at all), and usually end up causing trouble with other students because they are not in a proper environment to cater to their needs.
I woke up on Tuesday with pink eye, which I knew because of my past experience and the pink eye rapidly spreading around the school. The kids don’t really understand that it is contagious, so they are touching each other’s eyes, then touching other people, etc, so it was just a matter of time until I got it. I called Quito and got the name of the medicine I needed form the Peace Corps doctor, but this of course meant a full day of travelling to be able to get into Azogues and back. After this, I was tired of travelling and decided I would stay in my site, so I spent 12 days straight in site, which doesn’t sound like a lot, but it is one of the longest times I’ve been here in a row.
Things I realized during my days here:
- I receive about 10% of phone calls and text messages that I should be getting, and often receive them much later when the wind blows a burst of signal in.
- I can get cellphone service in two places on the roof, but I have to brave the guinea pigs and chickens, plus hear the conversation over the crowing rooster. I’ve decided it is much better during daylight when I can at least keep an eye on them.
- While they may look the same, the guinea pigs here do not have the same cute personality of those in the US and I don’t enjoy having them run loose in my hallway.
- Sharing baked goods with the family and extended family is still the way to go, and they are no reciprocating by sending various foods into my kitchen for me!
- It really does get warmer here, and the days have been sunny and seemingly hot after the past few cold months. My room never gets warm, however, because it doesn’t get sunlight and the 2 inch spaces around the windows lets all the cold air and wind in at night.
- The healthsystem allows children to receive care without parental permission. If they’re old enough to come into the subcentro alone, they’re old enough to get treated (the youngest injection I saw was 11 years old). Also, the doctors can go into the schools and vaccinate anyone they need to at any point
I am now spending the weekend in Cuenca to have my laundry done, complete all the Peace Corps work I have via e-mail, and just explore the city. The family is in Guayaquil to bring MacKenzie to the airport, so when I go back I will be the only gringa for hours. It is almost starting over again, so it will be another tough while adjusting to life without the support and friendship of MacKenzie. I think the family has finally accepted that I am the one who will be here for the next two years, however, so things are going very well in that regard.
Work in the subcentro has picked up and I am getting much more support with the Peace Corps work I have to complete and with doing things there. We had a meeting with the health volunteers (finally…) and while only 3 of them showed up, Lucy told them that she doesn’t have much time, so I will be in charge of running the meetings and working with them. We are starting this week with making a cucumber salad so they can learn new, healthy recipes. They are really excited about learning more recipes, and hopefully they will also become excited about working in the gardens because nutrition is a large area of concern here.
There is a lot of change here and a lot of new things happening, so I’m excited to see how it all plays out. I hope everyone is doing well in the Sates – I miss you all!
Besos,
Kerry
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